Department rolls out abuse awareness program

The WA Department of Education has ramped up is training programs in a bid to address child sex abuse.

The boost in training was a recommendation of last year's Blaxell inquiry into sex abuse in country hostels.

Teachers and parents will be taught how to identify warning signs of abuse and to handle and report incidents.

The program will be rolled-out first to selected remote Indigenous communities.

The Department's Anne Simpson says the program will also assist children.

"So essentially the protective behaviours program is a preventative program to provide children with the skills and knowledge to recognise when they're not safe and give them some strategies to do something about it," she said.

"This gives teachers another opportunity to learn about protective behaviours and then implement these into their classrooms.

"Our goal is really to provide a while-school approach to protective behaviours that starts in kindergarten and goes through to year 10."

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